Skift Take

DFW is unique in that it has space to play with and hopes to differentiate itself with a relaxed shopping area and accommodations that exist separate from the terminal bustle.

— Samantha Shankman

Southgate won’t look much like an airport venture — more like a suburban project with a hotel, offices and restaurants. But it will represent a new undertaking for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which is expanding in a non-airport kind of way.

In 2007, airport planners envisioned a mixed-use commercial development just outside the south entrance, next to the rental car center. On Thursday, the airport’s board approved procedural steps that will allow the construction of one feature, a D/FW-funded and -owned Hyatt Place hotel.

The 137-room hotel is part of a planned $92 million expenditure by the airport that will also include ground preparation, infrastructure and a 150,000-square-foot airport administration headquarters.